Edward L. (Ted) Warner III is the Secretary of Defense representative to New START and senior advisor to the USD (policy) for Arms Control and Strategic Stability. He served as a deputy head of the U.S. delegation that successfully concluded the New START Treaty with the Russian Federation in April 2010. The New START Treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on December 22, 2010.

Prior to his current appointment, Warner was a principal at Booz Allen Hamilton, an international management and technology-consulting firm from 2001 to 2009. At Booz Allen, Warner oversaw work to support the development of enhanced U.S. military capabilities, with emphasis on the development of joint capabilities, and refinement of the capabilities-based approach to defense.

Before joining Booz Allen Hamilton, Warner was assistant secretary of defense for strategy and requirements from May 1993 until November 1997, and assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction from November 1997 until October 2000. In addition, he worked with NATO allies to create processes for cooperative coalition concept development and experimentation in pursuit of greatly enhanced collective military capabilities. Warner was also responsible for Department of Defense policy for countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; policy issues associated with U.S. nuclear forces, ballistic missile defense, arms control, and cooperative threat reduction; as well as defense relations with Russia and the other newly dndependent states that emerged following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Warner served in the Air Force for 20 years. His assignments included head of the Staff Group, Office of the Air Force Chief of Staff; assistant air attaché at the U.S. Embassy, Moscow; analyst of Soviet military affairs with the Central Intelligence Agency; and an assistant professor of political science at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Warner graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1962 with a degree in marine engineering. He completed master's and doctoral degrees in politics at Princeton University. Between 1978 and 1992, Warner taught graduate courses in Soviet and Russian defense and arms control policy at Princeton University, Columbia University, and George Washington University.

Each year the Mershon Center for International Security Studies selects one lecture in honor of Joseph J. Kruzel, an Ohio State faculty member in Political Science who served in the U.S. Air Force as well as other posts in the federal government. Kruzel was killed in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in 1995 while serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Affairs.